Back in 2011, when the estimable Utah Jazz coach, Jerry Sloan, resigned following a locker-room confrontation with Williams in Chicago, Sloan was careful to absolve Williams from blame, and Williams, similarly, expressed his admiration for Sloan. Sloan said he was merely burnt out, and considering he had been coaching nonstop for 23 years, there was some logic to that. The timing was suspect, but the Jazz traded Williams shortly thereafter, and Williams’ reputation as a coach-killer didn’t stick.

Avery Johnson is gone, and Deron Williams is out of excuses. (AP Photo)

Now comes the canning of Johnson, and this one has Williams’ fingerprints all over it—that coach-killer thing isn’t going away this time. That’s not to say Williams got general manager Billy King on the phone and ordered a Johnson takedown. But when Williams was asked last week about the differences between the systems of Sloan (who was heavy on pick-and-rolls, which is the style in which Williams thrives) and Johnson (who favors more isolation play), he publicly acknowledged that Sloan’s offense is much better for him.

On one level, that’s just a matter of the numbers. Williams struggled mightily playing for Johnson for parts of the last three seasons, averaging 18.9 points on 39.8 percent shooting. He was averaging 21.3 points in Utah when he was traded to the Nets, and shot 46.6 percent from the field in his Jazz career. In that respect, Williams’ suggestion Johnson's coaching had an adverse effect on Williams’ production was merely a matter of stating the obvious.

But any NBA star knows that, if your team is struggling and you begin to talk about the coach’s system, you’re setting up that coach for the guillotine. And with the Nets now in the midst of a 3-10 funk following their 11-4 start (which earned Johnson Coach of the Month honors for November), with the team becoming a bit of a mess and an utter lack of spirit on the bench and in the locker room, Williams had to know that questioning Johnson publicly would yield one of two results—either the Nets would miraculously rally, or they would continue to slump and fire Johnson.

The concern for both Williams and the Nets is that, with Johnson gone, there are no more excuses. The team made some daring moves in the offseason, all designed to keep Williams in town as the franchise transferred from Newark to its new home in Brooklyn—and all putting the team near the luxury tax for at least the next three years. They overpaid Gerald Wallace and agreed to take on the albatross contract of Joe Johnson from the Hawks, and once they did, they were able to persuade Williams to ink a five-year, $100 million deal.

They didn’t pay Williams nine figures for 16.6 points on 39.8 percent shooting, which is what they’ve gotten this year. Maybe some of that is the fault of Johnson—he was fired by the Dallas Mavericks, remember, in part because he didn’t adjust his offense to take advantage of Jason Kidd. Maybe Johnson didn’t adjust enough to Williams, too.

But if a star player and a franchise cornerstone has as much talent as Williams has, he should be able to make some adjustments himself. It’s still basketball, after all, and no matter the system, the numbers that a player of Williams’ caliber is posting are a big disappointment. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul—they’ve all played in less-than-ideal systems for their skills, but still managed to produce. The Nets’ record, too, is a disappointment and that has got to fall to the team’s leader. Again, that’s Williams.

The Nets will put assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo in charge on an interim basis. They’ll bring in a new coach, likely with input from Williams. He is going to have to return to All-Star form, make himself an elite point guard again, put the Nets back into the thick of the upper echelon of the East playoff race. This time, he won’t have any excuse if he does not.